Despite onset of winter, tension along Kashmir frontier between India and Pak continues

Despite onset of winter, tension along Kashmir frontier between India and Pak continues

The onset of winter and the heaps of snow that clog the higher Himalayan reaches have failed to cool tempers along the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir, where Indian and Pakistani troops confront each other in a state of trigger-happiness not seen since the early 1970s.

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SHEKHAR GUPTA

January 20, 2014

ISSUE DATE: November 30, 1985

UPDATED: April 2, 2014 17:07 IST

Arun Shingh with jawans wounded in Siachen

The onset of winter and the heaps of snow that clog the higher Himalayan reaches have failed to cool tempers along the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir, where Indian and Pakistani troops confront each other in a state of trigger-happiness not seen since the early 1970s. With the continuing trouble at Siachen at the back of the soldiers' minds, almost any excuse is now good enough for them to start shooting.

In the Uri-Tangdhar sector in northwestern Kashmir, soldiers have been shooting at each other all through the past month over as little as a few walnuts. The problem of recurrent fights over who owns the produce of walnut trees growing bang on the line of control has not been sorted out despite a flag meeting between the officers of an Indian Gurkha battalion and their Pakistani counterparts last fortnight.

If it is walnuts in Uri, it is grass in Poonch. Soldiers have exchanged are in the Poonch-Rajouri sector this autumn with one side accusing the other of cutting grass or filling a bucket of water from across the border. Said a senior defence official in Srinagar: "A few incidents like this have taken place every year. But I have never seen troops so trigger-happy. Even on the Indian side now the local commanders have been authorised to open fire at their discretion."

Earlier, Delhi's permission was needed before the trigger was pressed. An example of the new belligerence was the promptness with which Pakistani troops fired at and damaged the helicopter carrying an Indian major-general, commander of a Baramula-based division, when it briefly strayed across the mountainous borderline. The helicopter made it safely to the Indian side, but troops remain eyeball-to-eyeball despite the formal withdrawal of "operational alert" on both sides on November 1.

In real terms, however, the withdrawal is a mere formality. Says a senior army officer: "The presumption is that a war is unlikely once it begins to snow in the mountains. But don't forget that we fought the last war in December 1971." Yet a full-scale war is not what Indian commanders anticipate this winter.

It is felt that Pakistan wants to make India's control of Siachen unaffordable in manpower terms.

What is possible, they say, is a limited attempt by Pakistan to make up for the loss of territory in Siachen. And this need not necessarily be in the Siachen region. Besides making the military score even, this could also help General Zia-ul-Haq to divert his people's attention in case he decides to put off the process of "civilianisation" in Pakistan. Indian forces are thus taking no chances and continuing the build-up in the Siachen area, where Minister of State for Defence Research and Development Organisation Arun Singh visited military installations late last month.

As far as Siachen is concerned, an indication of the Pakistani general staff's mood is available from the recent writings in the Pakistani press. The idea projected through a series of commentaries is that while India has gained about 300 sq km in the higher glacial wastelands, its supply lines are extremely thin and therefore threatened by the Pakistani troops stationed at Gyongla, facing the relatively lower Lagongma glacier on the Indian side.

India's defence planners interpret this as meaning that while desisting from a large-scale offensive, the Pakistani army could try to cut the tenuous supply link. The Pakistani strategy, Indian commanders feel, would also be to make India's control of Siachen unaffordable in manpower terms. It is significant that the ambush in early September in which three Indian soldiers died took place around this sector.

Indian officials concede that Pakistani supply lines are much better and extend fairly close to the line of control, posing a serious challenge to India's defenders. The army, however, feels that it has beefed up the defence adequately to meet any protracted winter offensive. "General Zia has been, telling the newspapers that Siachen is hardly a region worth fighting for as not a blade of grass grows there. But the fact is the Siachen reverse is a serious loss of face for the Pakistani military leadership, and it will try to make up for it," says a senior Indian official in South Block.

War or no war, tension along the Kashmir frontier is bound to continue through the winter. This may take the shape of border skirmishes or even less visible provocations such as increased espionage activity. On that score, there is already serious concern on the Indian side. At least twice within the last year. Pakistani spies aided by some Baramula residents have succeeded in breaking into the divisional headquarters there and stealing important files - once a batch of 32 through a broken window. Some of these files have been recovered because of the chance capture of some spies, including the batch of five arrested on October 23.

A Border Security Force Naik (corporal) was arrested on the basis of the spies' interrogation and is now being tried for espionage. The very fact that Pakistan's field intelligence has been showing this kind of enterprise - and succeeding - is cause for worry in the Defence Ministry.

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